“We can’t park a ship there and we can’t dredge anything if we don’t have access to the water lot, that’s owned by the federal government, said Lanie Hurdle, the community services commissioner with the city. “The actual dock itself is owned by a private owner.”

Hurdle says the city has spoken to the private owners and that they’re interested in having a partnership. Now, it’s a question of working out the details.

Stephen Burnett is the executive director of the Great Lakes Cruising Coalition, an organization that advocates passenger cruising on the Great Lakes. He says Kingston has it all except a deep water dock.

“At the moment, our ships have thrown an anchor out in the bay — we have to bring them in with tenders — we do a good job of doing that but ultimately, more ships will come if we can tie them up at a dock somewhere.”